450Bushmaster.net

Dear fellow .450 Bushmaster`s

I am thinking about building up a custom bolt rifle in 450 BM and havn`t found any information about the minimum/best barell length for a bolt action ...

what are your experiences for the minimum/best length ?

Greetings

I read the popular is 18". That's what I have on my savage axis build. No pills downrange yet due to my club ranges being shut down for hunting. Its all ready except for the muzzle break. Maybe this Fri if the weather improves.

Someone did a test showing that the 16" barrel is only 1% less velocity/power than a twenty-something barrel. 18" might give you full velocity. 450BM is very efficient at burning its power fast apparently.

Escape Pod wrote:Someone did a test showing that the 16" barrel is only 1% less velocity/power than a twenty-something barrel. 18" might give you full velocity. 450BM is very efficient at burning its power fast apparently.

Pushing the 250 FTX with 38gr Lil Gun, every inch of barrel length is approximately 25fps. The 20" barrel such as i use in my AR platform will net you 100fps additional velocity over a 16" barrel. I'm not a pipsqueak and toting around a 20" barrel doesn't pose much of a deal breaker for me. Truth be told, the 2" brake actually makes it like toting around a 22" rig. Most of my hunting rifles are 24 or 26" so I'm kinda used to it. Getting the muzzle blast 4 inches further away from you is also a benefit. To a lesser degree, the additional length reduces the recoil some as well. I just find it a smoother experience overall with the 20" over the 16" but that's just me.

Hoot

Escape Pod wrote:Someone did a test showing that the 16" barrel is only 1% less velocity/power than a twenty-something barrel. 18" might give you full velocity. 450BM is very efficient at burning its power fast apparently.

do you have a source/link for this test ?

Hoot wrote:

Escape Pod wrote:Someone did a test showing that the 16" barrel is only 1% less velocity/power than a twenty-something barrel. 18" might give you full velocity. 450BM is very efficient at burning its power fast apparently.

Pushing the 250 FTX with 38gr Lil Gun, every inch of barrel length is approximately 25fps. The 20" barrel such as i use in my AR platform will net you 100fps additional velocity over a 16" barrel. I'm not a pipsqueak and toting around a 20" barrel doesn't pose much of a deal breaker for me. Truth be told, the 2" brake actually makes it like toting around a 22" rig. Most of my hunting rifles are 24 or 26" so I'm kinda used to it. Getting the muzzle blast 4 inches further away from you is also a benefit. To a lesser degree, the additional length reduces the recoil some as well. I just find it a smoother experience overall with the 20" over the 16" but that's just me.

Hoot

thats a big point! thank you for the numbers - I would hunt with a silencer/muzzle break anyway, maybe with hand loaded ammunition and the build up is especially for a relatively short gun, usually my preferred gun has 26" too, to use it on short range, from horseback and in some special alpine environment ... but I don't want to shorten the length for absolutely no sense!

Last couple I built had 22" barrels for no real reason other than handiness in the blind and the way I'm set up keeps the muzzle out the window a bit farther.

With a bolt gun and handloads, or Bear Creeks ammo, you can take the 450 to a new level.

Snooping around, I found this test performed by Match Grade Machine.



Hoot

EDIT: Link to entire article, covers multiple calibers: Link

Al in Mi wrote:Last couple I built had 22" barrels for no real reason other than handiness in the blind and the way I'm set up keeps the muzzle out the window a bit farther.

With a bolt gun and handloads, or Bear Creeks ammo, you can take the 450 to a new level.

well shall be a walking and riding rifle - guess I will use a lot of subsonic ammo anyway ... sadly I think I can't get the bear Creek Ammo ...

Hoot wrote:Snooping around, I found this test performed by Match Grade Machine.


Hoot

EDIT: Link to entire article, covers multiple calibers: Link

that's what I thought - it will be acceptable loss of Energy, wondering why my googling didn't found anything -.-
thank you very much!!